I’m SECHSE and I Know it

The quality, elegance, and sophistication of the products made on the anvil are a reflection of the craftsmanship of the maker and the willingness of the material. Hard metal must be softened for it to be reworked under the tools of the shaper. Through a process of trust building, organizations and executives can become vulnerable so that expert consultants and coaches can lead them through the transformation process. 

Our process follows the SECHSE Protocol, which our founder cheekily likes to pronounce “sexy.” Each step is a prerequisite for the next so that a team or individual can move from where they are now to where they want to be. 

• S: Soften. Prepare by allowing for vulnerability.

• E: Expose. Reveal the issue, weakness, or opportunity for improvement.

• C: Cleanse. Remove that which is corrupting or betraying progress and results.

• H: Heal. Repair the concern and rehabilitate from the procedure.

• S: Strengthen. Develop and build upon the new skill or standard.

• E: Empower. Use the strength to achieve results and attain goals.

When unproductive conditions exist, vision is obscured, opportunities are missed, and challenges are amplified. Other negative results are lost effectiveness, team distress, and ultimately lower profits and slower growth.

To operate under better conditions and reach a more valuable destination, teams and individuals must embrace attributes of responsibility, vulnerability, empathy, rehabilitation, and improvement. Addressing the issues and doing the work to resolve them are worth the effort, and the results are far more satisfying. Now that’s SECHSE!

The Anvil

The anvil is my favorite symbol of organizational and personal development, and I often use it as an unofficial mascot for myself and the teams I’ve led. Typically, an anvil will sit in my office as a reminder, imposing itself on my desk or resting heavily on the floor. The anvil represents much more than a tool from antiquity used by heat-treated blacksmiths covered in the soot of their profession.

At the core of its essence, the anvil is a symbol of transformation. It is a device used for molding and shaping metals and other materials under tremendous stress. Metal pieces are heated in an intensely hot forge until they glow a radiant orange and are then laid on the anvil to be heavily pounded by a hammer and manipulated with other tools.  The anvil must be tough enough to withstand the nearly molten heat of the metal while enduring the power of the heavy hammering in order to produce tools that embody both form and function.

The strength and fortitude of the anvil, used to shape hearty solutions even to the point of elegance and sophistication, is an example of how we are refined in life under intense struggle to be objects of great resource and beauty. Change can be temporary, transformation has longevity, and metamorphosis represents a distinctly different lifestyle and journey. Increasingly greater effort is required to pass through each phase in that continuum as we wrestle with inevitable resistance and pain in the process, all for the purpose of achieving greater success when pointed in the right direction.